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Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh (Azeri: Əzizə Mustafazadə; born December 19, 1969), also known as "The Princess of Jazz", or "Die Prinzessin des Jazz" or as "Jazziza", is an Azerbaijani singer, pianist and composer who plays a fusion of jazz and mugam (a traditional improvisational style of Azerbaijan) with classical and Avant-garde influences. Reviewers have said that her style also shows some influence from Keith Jarrett.[ AllMusic.com review - Aziza Mustafa Zadeh] She currently resides in Mainz, Germany, with her mother, Eliza Mustafa Zadeh, who is also her manager. Her two favorite leisure activities, she says, are painting and sleeping. She is a vegetarian. She believes in God even though she does not consider herself as belonging to any religion.Jazzeitung interview with Aziza Mustafa Zadeh Since 1991, Aziza has sold around 15 million albums worldwide. video:Aziza Mustafa Zadeh Trio - Contrasts Aziza was born in Baku to musical parents Vagif and Elza Mustafa Zadeh. Vagif was a pianist and composer, famous for creating the mugam-jazz fusion in which his daughter now plays. Elza is a classically trained singer from Georgia.Classical TV They first noticed their daughter's sensitivity to music when she was eight months old. Aziza recalls the story as her mother tells it: Aziza enjoyed all forms of art, especially dancing, painting and singing. At the age of three, she made her stage debut with her father, improvising vocals. She began studying classical piano at an early age, showing special interest in the works of famous composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Frédéric Chopin. Soon thereafter, she showed a growing talent for improvisation. As a teenager, she was musically trained by Rafig Babayev."A Feeling of Jazz". Baku Magazine, No. 2(16), May 2010; p. 80. On December 16, 1979, Aziza's father died of a severe heart attack in Tashkent at the age of 39, three days away from Aziza's tenth birthday. (The chronology of important family dates here is very strange. Aziza's birthday is the 19th, her mother's is the 17th. Vagif died on the 16th and was buried on the 18th. Aziza says, "So all those dates - 16, 17, 18, and 19 - are such a mixture of joy and sadness for us and such a philosophical paradox - life and death juxtaposed upon each other like that.") In order to help her daughter cope with this blow, Aziza's mother gave up her career as a singer to help nurture her daughter's own musical talents. In 1988, at the age of 18, Aziza's mugam-influenced style helped her win third place together with American Matt Cooper in the Thelonious Monk piano competition in Washington, D.C.Monk Institute It was around this time that she moved to Germany with her mother. Aziza released her debut album, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, in 1991. Her second album, Always, won her the Phono Academy Prize, a prestigious German music award, and the Echo Prize from Sony. She has since performed in many countries with many jazz and traditional luminaries and released several more albums, the most recent being Contrasts II, released in 2007. Baku Jazz Festival 2007 Aziza returned to Azerbaijan in June 2007 for the Baku Jazz Festival, starring in her own concert at the Opera and Ballet Theater and headlining the end-of-festival concert at the open-air Green Theater. Here she presented a remarkable rendition of "Shamans", involving harmonising with her own echo. Discography * Aziza Mustafa Zadeh (1991) * Always (1993) * Dance of Fire (1995) * Seventh Truth (1996) * Jazziza (1997) * Inspiration – Colors & Reflections (2000) * Shamans (2002) * Contrasts (2006) * Contrasts II (2007) References External links * Official Site of Aziza Mustafa Zadeh * Azerbaijan International article * AllAboutJazz.com: Aziza Mustafa Zadeh: Body and Soul and Mugam! * Listen to Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Music Section of Azerbaijan International Category:Pianists